12- the Michigan Daily - Wednesday, May i4, 1991
Williams, Crystal team up for
bi-g laughs in 'Father's Day'

By Julia Shih
Daily Arts Writer
It starts off like the delivery of a
bad joke: An anal lawyer and an
eccentric writer set off together to
find a runaway boy ...
But the
premise for the
film "Father's R
Day" delivers
quite a punch F
with the phenom-
enal comedic tal-
ent of the
Slapstick Dream
Team, Billy Crystal and Robin
Williams.
Crystal plays Jack Lawrence, a
successful Los Angeles lawyer with
a good job and a beautiful wife
(Julia Louis-Dreyfus).
Out of the blue, he is paid a visit
by Cotte (Nastassja Kinski), the
beautiful woman he once dated but
hasn't seen for 17 years. Though
Colette is married now, she explains
that not only might her 16-year-old
son, Scott (Charlie Hofheimer) be
Jack's child, but that Scott has
recently run away, and she needs
Jack's help in finding him.
Jack is skeptical, so Colette calls
Dale Putley (Williams) in San
Francisco with the same confession,
as the two had also shared a roman-

Fi

tic fling 17 years ago.
Soon, both Jack and Dale are
chasing the boy all over the West
Coast, but not after discovering that
either one of them could be Scott's
father. With its two stars in hot pur-
suit and constant-
ly getting on each
E VIEW other's nerves,
"Father's Day"
ather's Day develops into a
hilarious romp
At showcase with a sappy
twist.
Crystal and
Williams, two of the biggest names
in comedy, finally combine talents
in a film after wanting to do so for
more than 10
years. With
Crystal as a
lawyer with a Williams I
severe lack of
patience and "M ok and
Williams as a
kooky writer form with
who is prone
to weeping, lud $Cr uS
the two con-
trasting char- and quirk
acters work as
a dynamic
duo.
The funniest scenes in the movie
are carried by the chemistry of the

two, from Jack trying to help Dale
confront his fear of flying, to a hotel
shower scene involving Jack, Dale
and an unconscious boy.
Crystal plays the more controlling
one, who almost acts as the keeper of
Williams' character. He uses his sar-
castic wit to create most of his
laughs.
On the other hand, Williams
explodes with loads of wacky physi-
cal comedy and character acting. He
is in top "Mork and Mindy" form
with his ludicrous antics and quirks.
Audiences will be in an hysterical
uproar during the scene in which
Dale tries to decide how to act when
he introduces himself to Scott -
should he be a
hip-hopping
gangsta or a Bob
Sin top M arIey-
Mindy' The movie
~ gets syrupy near
sl the end as the
two men discov-
antic er the paternal
qualities within
is them. The way
they advise the
boy on his love
troubles after tracking him down,
and the way Colette's family
reunites, are reminders that this

I
Si

Bily Crystal ano obin wunams, two of the funniest men In snow usiness, are
shown laughing hysterically at one of their own jokes.

movie is mostly intended as a fami-
ly movie.
Director Ivan Reitman does a
good job of working with the talents
of the two stars while maintaining
the overall quality of the film. The
plot development is weak, but
Reitman is successful in diverting
the audience's attention with the

stronger aspects of the film.
If anything, "Father's Day" was
created solely to allow Crystal and
Williams to showcase their gifts.
The two possess immense quantities
of talent and are unforgettable
together, making "Father's Day" an
extremely enjoyable movie for good,
mindless fun.


Buckner explores difficulties of love on
PJ'S RECORDS & USED CDS sweet, sorrowful 'Devotion + Doubt'
SELECTION, QUALITY & PRICE ARE ALWAYS Richard Buckner writer from San Francisco who "Fater," the instruments
IDevotion + Doubt sounds more like he's from West eschewed altogether in fav
OUR TOP PRIORITYI Texas, offers what is perhaps the Buckner's rough-hewn vocal
BUY-SELL-TRADE-RECYCLE MCA year's finest album to date with recall nothing so much as ol
"Devotion + Doubt," a Appalachia.
JAZZ BLUES ROCK SOUL CLASSICAL PUNK FUNK sweet, sorrowful diary Buckner, whose
OPEN 7 DAYS-AIR CONDITIONED!! Richard Buckner, a singer-song- of love and longing. C d ly moved ever}
While his fantas- months whenh
617- PACKARD-NEAR HILL ST.-663-3441 tic debut album, a child and wl
"Bloomed," fea- spent the las
UPSTAIRS FROM SUBWAYli tared only >. years 14
Buckner's srpams o
We've got hundrede of cds at 5$ and IeslB strong, almost nor
emotive voice over fills his song
spare acoustic gui- references t

are
or of
s that
d-time
fami-
-y few
he was
rho has
st few
ouring
n-stop,
s with
o the

II

tar work and Lloyd
Maines buttery pedal
steel, "Devotion + Doubt"
broadens the songs' musical palette.
Steel-guitar guru Maines returns,
AdrtSlil9 N joined by Joey Burns, John
Ac Isplay utive Convertino and Howe Gelb of Giant
C AcOu1 ISand, as well as guitarist Marc
Ribot. Though Buckner's lyrics
.- remain the focus, the musicians'
contributions add further dimen-
sions to the songs.
New musical wrinkles can be
found everywhere. The album's first
track, "Pull," features the first use of
drums on a Buckner song; in "Song
of 27," the drums are replaced by a
softly jangling key chain for percus-
sion. Buckner plays an antique
hand-held chord organ in "On
STravelling;"for the a cappella

road. And as the title
suggests, he explores the
demands and difficulties of
love, hoping in the album's third
track, "Ed's Song," that "for once,
devotion is enough."
Through the course of the album's
13 songs, Buckner winds his way
down empty highways and dark
nights, meditating on midnight skies:
"It's a hard moon to swallow ... under
this swollen, swampy sky," he
laments in "On Travelling."
The record closes with the distance
between him and his lover still great,
but his devotion has, at least in that
moment, overcome his doubt as he*
sings, "on nights like this my hope
returns, though I may be miles away
from her."
-Anders Smith-Lindall

- - -996-9191